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A passenger who rather ill-advisedly told security at Chicago's O'Hare Airport that part of his penis pump was a bomb faces a possible three years' jail on a felony disorderly conduct rap, The Chicago Sun-Times reports.

Mardin Amin, 29, was en route to Turkey on 16 August with his dear old ma and two small children when a female security operative extracted a "small, black, squeezable rubber object" from his backpack. Since he was standing next to his mum, Amin decided to whisper out of the corner of his mouth that it was a "pump". The guard misheard it as "bomb", with inevitable consequences.

That, at least, was the version offered yesterday by Amin's defense attorney, Eileen O'Neill-Burke, in the Cook County courtroom where the pneumatic defendant sought to clarify the misunderstanding. As "snickering police officers watched the court proceedings", O'Neill-Burke explained: "He told her it's a pump. He's standing with his mother. Of course he's not going to shout this out."

The guard, however, insisted Amin had said "bomb". On the basis of this testimony, Judge Gerald Winiecki declared there was enough evidence for the case to move forward, and Amin is accordingly due back before the beak on 13 September.

After the hearing, a "mostly jovial" Amin - who works for a "janitorial service" - insisted he'd never use the word "bomb" while passing through airport security. Regarding the offending device, he added: "It's normal. Half of America they use it." ®